In most states, the big elections will come next year. But on Tuesday, voters in a few states elected governors and mayors and decided a variety of major issues at the ballot box.
A look at some of the offices and issues at stake:
Governors
Businessman Matt Bevin becomes only the second Republican in four decades to win the governor’s seat in Kentucky, defeating the Democratic attorney general in a race that acted as something of a referendum on health care and gay marriage.
He will succeed Democratic Gov. Steve Beshear, who is termed out of office.
Bevin describes himself as a Christian conservative and defended Kim Davis, the county clerk who was jailed for refusing to issue marriage licenses to same-sex couples.
He opposed the state’s expansion of Medicaid, the government health insurance program for lower-income people, which was made possible by President Barack Obama’s health care overhaul. Bevin wants to replace it with a health care plan requiring more money from participants.
His Democratic opponent, Jack Conway, supported the Medicaid expansion. As attorney general, Conway also opted not to appeal when a federal judge ordered Kentucky to recognize same-sex marriage, a year before the U.S. Supreme Court legalized it nationwide.
In Tuesday’s only other gubernatorial race, Republican Mississippi Gov. Phil Bryant won a second term, beating Democratic nominee Robert Gray, a truck driver.
Mayors
More than 300 cities will hold mayoral elections, including the nation’s fourth and fifth largest cities of Houston and Philadelphia. In Houston’s nonpartisan election, seven candidates are seeking to succeed term-limited Mayor Annise Parker.
In Philadelphia, where Democrats hold a 7-to-1 voter registration edge over Republicans, Democrat Jim Kenney, a former city councilman, defeated a Republican business executive to succeed term-limited Mayor Michael Nutter. Kenney had pledged to step up the fight on poverty and provide universal pre-kindergarten.
Marijuana
Ohio voters have rejected a ballot measure seeking to legalize recreational and medical marijuana use in the state.
The measure known as Issue 3 on Tuesday’s ballot would have allowed adults 21 and older to use, purchase or grow certain amounts of marijuana.
Gay rights
Houston voters rejected a proposed ordinance that would have granted non-discrimination protections to gay and transgender people. The referendum on a city ordinance passed last year drew support from the White House and Apple Inc.
Opponents included a coalition of conservative pastors who contended it would have infringed on their religious beliefs against homosexuality. With same-sex marriage now legal nationwide, nondiscrimination laws have become the new priority for many lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender groups.
Animals
A Washington ballot initiative backed by Microsoft co-founder Paul Allen and various animal-rights groups would make it a state crime to buy, sell or trade products coming from certain wild animals. The ban targets endangered species of elephants, rhinoceroses, tigers, lions, leopards, cheetahs, pangolins, marine turtles, sharks and rays. In Texas, a ballot measure would create a constitutional right for people to hunt, fish and “harvest wildlife.”
